Editing MIDI (section)

===Composition===
{{Listen
| filename     = Drum sample.mid
| title        = Drum sample 1
| description  = Drum sample 1
| filename2    = Drum sample2.mid
| title2       = Drum sample 2
| description2 = Drum sample 2
| filename3    = Bass sample.mid
| title3       = Bass sample 1
| description3 = Bass sample 1
| filename4    = Bass sample2.mid
| title4       = Bass sample 2
| description4 = Bass sample 2
| filename5    = MIDI sample.mid
| title5       = Combination
| description5 = A combination of the previous four files, with [[piano]], [[jazz guitar]], a [[hi-hat]] and four extra [[Bar (music)|measures]] added to complete the short song, in [[A minor]]
}}

MIDI events can be sequenced with [[List of MIDI editors and sequencers|computer software]], or in specialized hardware [[music workstation]]s. Many [[digital audio workstation]]s (DAWs) are specifically designed to work with MIDI as an integral component. MIDI [[piano roll]]s have been developed in many DAWs so that the recorded MIDI messages can be easily modified.<ref>{{cite web|title=Digital audio workstation – Intro |url=http://homerecording.guidento.com/daw.htm |archive-date=10 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110031303/http://homerecording.guidento.com/daw.htm }}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2012}} These tools allow composers to audition and edit their work much more quickly and efficiently than did older solutions, such as [[multitrack recording]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} Compositions can be programmed for MIDI that are impossible for human performers to play.<ref>{{cite web |last=Forbes |first=Peter |date=2002-03-14 |title=PCs hit the write note |url=http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2002/mar/14/onlinesupplement2 |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref>

Because a MIDI performance is a sequence of commands that create sound, MIDI recordings can be manipulated in ways that audio recordings cannot. It is possible to change the key, instrumentation or tempo of a MIDI arrangement,<ref name="Brewster" />{{rp|227|date=November 2012}} and to reorder its individual sections,<ref>Campbell, Drew. ""Click, Click. Audio" ''Stage Directions''. Vol. 16, No. 3. Mar 2003.</ref> or even edit individual notes. The ability to compose ideas and quickly hear them played back enables composers to experiment.<ref name="Muse">McCutchan, Ann. ''The Muse That Sings: Composers Speak about the Creative Process''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. p. 67-68,72</ref>{{rp|175|date=November 2012}}

[[Algorithmic composition]] programs provide computer-generated performances that can be used as song ideas or accompaniment.<ref name="Huber 1991" />{{rp|122|date=November 2012}}

Some composers may take advantage of the standard, portable set of commands and parameters in MIDI 1.0 and [[General MIDI]] (GM) to share musical data files among various electronic instruments. The data composed via the sequenced MIDI recordings can be saved as a ''standard MIDI file'' (SMF), digitally distributed, and reproduced by any computer or electronic instrument that also adheres to the same MIDI, GM, and SMF standards. MIDI data files are much smaller than corresponding recorded [[audio file]]s.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}